Improved tool for trimming bolt-heads



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Letters Patent No.'9l,04(`), dated June 81869.

l l i IMPROVED TOOL FOR TRIMMING- BOLT-HEADS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, A. P'. PLANT, of Plantsville, in the county of Hartford, and State of Connecticut, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Trimming Bolt-Heads; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisSpecicatiOn, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of my invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the same, drawn through the line :zz-1y.

Figure 3 is a top View of a bolt-head as it leaves the heading-die.

Figure 4 isa side elevation of the same.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the knives;

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

My invention consists in the use or employment of two knives, which knives are set in two adjustable guides, between which guides the top of the bolt-head is placed, and a double punch (one part of which bears on the bolt-head, and the other part on the body of the bolt,) then forces the bolt-head between the knives, which knives trim the surplus metal from two Asides of the bolt-head,` when the bolt is--turned over, and the other two sides trimmed in like manner.

rlhe object of this invention is to neatly and cheaply trim the surplus metal from square bolt-heads, that have been headed in a die.

a designates the head of the bolt, and b the surplus y metal which the die could not contain.

The punch A is made in twoparts. The back part c, which is designed to bear on the side of the bolthead a, is shorter than the adjustable part d, which part rl'is designed to bear on the bolt-body e, while the space between the parts c and d is to allow room for the surplus metal b.

If desired, the parts c and d might be of equal length, or of such'length that the bolt would tip and the knives m m make a shearing' cut on the surplus metal b.

To adjust these parts,c and cl, of the punch A, the

screw f can be loosened, and packing of the desired thickness inserted at g.

The guides B B are slotted at h h, and secured to.

bed-piece Oby' bolts i t', and can, if desired, be made to slidel on ways or against a ledge, while the setscrews It k will. aid in adjusting them.

These guides B B havea rebate, or groove, l l, in one corner, the depth of which is a little less than the thickness ofthe bolt-head :aand the distance between the rebates Z'l' should besuch that the bolt-head a to be trimmed shall just fill the same. y

The knives m m are set in a slot, with their faces even with the outside edges of the rebates Z l, and are held in place by set-screws n n.

lient to put in and remove from the die.

1 To use this` tool, the bolt-heady a is placed with the 'top of the'head against the bottom of the rebates 1 l,

while the two opposite'sides of the head'a are guided bythe sides of the rebates l l. The bolt-body is toward the operator, and held by him.

The punch A, by any suitable power, is caused to descend, when parts c and d simultaneously strike the head a and bolt-body e, and drive the bolt between the knives m m, which trim the two sides of the head a.

' The bolt is then turned over, and the operation repeated, and the bolt is ready for the tumbling-barrel, from which it comes with a finished head. 1

When the knives m m become dulled, theycan be moved a little, when the 'wear will come in a new and sharp place, and thus used until the whole length of the knife is dulled, without removing the same to be sharpened.

For a particular-sized bolt, the knives m m might be set,'or made solid, on both sides of a single rebate, which the bolt-head should just lill, and then trim the head in precisely the same manner as before described; but if the rebates Z lare in adjustable guides, differentsized heads can be trimmed with the same tool, and

also the small variations which often occur in heads` which are nominally the same size, can be vbetter accommodated and the heads trimmed closer.

The ordinary expense of trimming these bolt-heads can only be known to experienced bolt-makers.

If the surplus metal is very large, it is first partially removed, by driving the head through a die with a hammer, by hand. An ordinary square die andpunch set in a suitable press is provided with two thin closing-guides, each of which guides has a right-angled V, and are made to grasp the bolt-head with the surplus metal under said guides, and the body of the bolt running through the die and into the bed-piece of the press. n The punch then drives the bolt through the die, and trims off the surplus metal.

Itis nearly impossible for the guides to bring the bolt-head exactly over the die, and consequently the die often cuts oli not only the surplus metal, but also Y gouges into the bolt-head, and leaves it ragged.- Therefore, after being 'trimmed by this die, theyare headed and hammered by the blacksmith, to smooth them.

`Trimming long bolts by this process consumes much more time than short ones, as they are very inconven- If a long bolt is placed in this trimming-die, whose head does not stand at a right 'angle with its body, it will almost surely break the die, as the bolt-body strikes the-sides of the hole in bed-pieceof the press, and prevents the guides from bringing the head4 level withA the top of the die.

Short bolts have also been trimmed by means of a I die and hollow punch, by allowing the bolt-body to enter the .hollow in the punch. Dies for both of these common modes Vare very expensive to make pair, and last but a short time.

By my invention, I produce a. tool for trimming boltheads which is very cheaply made, is easy to keep in repair, and does its Work in the most satisfactory manner. It finishes the head without returning it to the blacksmith, thereby saving a large expense.

As the bolt-body is free, and the rebates govern the bolt, a bent or crooked bolt can be trimmed as Well is any, without danger of breaking the tool.

Although the surplus metal .may be large, it requires no previous trimming. As the body of the and rebolt serves for a handle, long bolts can be trimmed as quie-k, or quicker than short ones.

What I claim as new, and desire' to secure by Letters Patent, isf The combination of the set-screws k k, or their 

